Oral History Interview with William Hamlin, May 29, 1998.
Interview K-0169. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007):
Electronic Edition. Cultural Pluralism versus Integration at West Charlotte
High SchoolHamlin, William,
interviewee Interview conducted by Grundy, PamelaFunding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported the
electronic publication of this interview.Text encoded by Mike MillnerSound recordings digitized by Steve Weiss and Aaron SmithersFirst edition, 2006124 KbThe University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina2006.

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Oral History Interview with William Hamlin,
May 29, 1998. Interview K-0169. Southern Oral History Program Collection
(#4007)Series K. Southern Communities. Southern Oral History
Program Collection (K-0169)Pamela Grundy172 MbChapel Hill, N. C.Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill29 May 1998Oral History Interview with William Hamlin, May 29,
1998. Interview K-0169. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007)Series K. Southern Communities. Southern Oral History
Program Collection (K-0169)William Hamlin34 p.Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at
Chapel HillChapel Hill, North Carolina29 May 1998Interview conducted on May 29, 1998, by Pamela Grundy;
recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina.Transcribed by Unknown. Forms part of: Southern Oral History Program Collection
(#4007): Series K. Southern Communities, Manuscripts Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Original transcript on deposit at the Southern
Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill.

The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-Chapel Hill digital library, Documenting the American South.

An audio file with the interview complements this electronic edition.

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Library of Congress Subject HeadingsDocumenting the American South TopicsEnglishDesegregation Educational Institutions2006-00-00, Celine Noel and Wanda Gunther revised TEIHeader and created catalog record for the electronic
edition.2006-04-06, Mike Millner finished TEI-conformant encoding and final proofing.
Interview with William Hamlin, May 29, 1998. Interview K-0169.
Conducted by Pamela Grundy

Transcript on deposit at The Southern Historical Collection, The Louis Round
Wilson Library

Citation of this interview should be as follows: “Interview K-0169, in
the Southern Oral History Program Collection #4007, Southern Historical
Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill”

William Hamlin, who attended West Charlotte High School before integration and
who observed the integration process from a distance, offers his thoughts on the
effects of integration on West Charlotte and Charlotte itself. Like many former
West Charlotte students, Hamlin describes the school's magnetism and its glowing
reputation. But he tells a darker story, too, about a violent integration
process that he believes will never be completed. Hamlin feels conflicted about
integration and its legacy. While he thinks that the process was largely
successful, he does not think it can eliminate racism or break down the barriers
between African Americans and success in America. Over time, Hamlin confesses,
he has come to believe in the wisdom of a degree of cultural separatism, in part
because he worries that total integration might spur the erosion of cultural
traditions.

Short Abstract

Former West Charlotte student muses about the school and the uncertain legacies
of integration.

Today is May 29, 1998, and I am interviewing William Hamlin about his
experiences at West Charlotte High School.

So I guess I should start out by asking are you yourself a native
Charlottean?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I am a native Charlottean. I went through sort of a historical
encounter. I actually started my preschool, elementary years in the old
Myers Street School and, later because of integrations and some rifts
there, I transferred into a new district. I went to Northwest and then
later to West Charlotte. I have been a lifelong resident of Charlotte
except for about a year when I took a job out in Memphis, Tennessee. So,
Charlotte is my home —. For the time that I went away in college—.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What neighborhood did you grow up in?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Again, I grew up in several neighborhoods. As an adolescent, I grew up
in the Brooklyn community, then later close to Third Ward. When I went
to my middle school, junior high years as it was called in those days, I
lived over in the Genesis Park neighborhood. We called it Kenney Street
at that time. And, then later when I was in high school we moved to
Biddleville. Those were the neighborhoods that I trekked myself through,
or my parents trekked myself through as I was growing up.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

So, you knew about a lot of the city?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I knew quite a bit about most of the city. In fact, my older brother
went to school across town, Second Ward. And when we moved, the
remaining children in our family, which are five, went to West
Charlotte.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Was the move related at all to the schools? You said something about
changing schools—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes, it was. It was more related to integration. I was one of the
persons along with Dorothy Counts and several other persons who went to
the integrated schools when—. Dorothy went when she was in high school—.
But I was supposed to go to Alexander Graham Bell Junior High which was
across the street on Morehead where the central YMCA is located. Over
that summer, my father and our family experienced a lot of racial
threats and whatever. And my father sent us to South Carolina to be with
his parents and then later to Richmond to be with my mother's parents.
When we came back to Charlotte he actually had moved us from Liberty
Street which was in the Second Ward area. Which was supposed to go to
Alexander Graham Bell over into the district that included Northwest
which fed into West Charlotte.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Had you applied to go to Alexander Graham?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes, I had through the NAACP. I think all of us had, actually had, to
make application. And I was one of those persons that the NAACP put up
to go to those schools. I don't know much about the application process.
But I know that my mother and father were people involved in ensuring
that I had the opportunity thoughout, unfortunately, I wasn't able to
go.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What did you think at that time? Were you in junior high school at that
time or middle school?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Think about going to a new school or the integration process?

PAMELA GRUNDY:

About possibly being one of the first children to go to an integrated
school.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Well, I thought it was going to be exciting. I had received a lot of
encouragement from then my elementary school teachers who felt that I
could do work very competently at that time. I was sort of excited about
the idea of maybe being a first. I did have some anxieties about it
because there was a lot of talk in the community. I may not have had the
full weight of knowing what dangers may have lied ahead. I was excited,
but, yet, sort of skeptical on a low scale. Because I really wasn't
familiar with what problems may lie ahead.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did you become one of these partly because you were a good student in
school or was it due to your parents' activism?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think it was more, not so much because of my grades in school, because
in elementary school I was probably a B student. I wasn't really a good,
good student. But I was able to conquer the work, or do the work. But
it's more because I lived on Liberty Street. The school that I was
assigned to go to was York Road Junior High School which is really in
the southern quadrant of the city. I would have had to ride the bus.
Whereas, Alexander Graham Bell was only a block and a half from my
house. So, I think it had to do more with geography and because I had
been a pretty good student it probably raised the possibilities that I
could be a candidate and represent, at that time, my race well in a new
situation, a new integrated situation.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What did your parents do?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

My mother, at the time, was a cook in a cafeteria. My father worked for
Union Carbide. He was a mixer helper in the battery room. For a long
time I thought he was like a chemist but later he explained to me
exactly what he did. And that was actually mixing the ingredients that
went into batteries. That was his job.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

You said your family had certain threats made toward them. Was part of
this related to their jobs at all?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Part of it was related to his job. He did say that he had gotten some
threats at home, I mean at work. But the threat that scared him most was
the threats that we had begun to receive at home. The late night
telephone calls, people riding by the house and that sort of thing. He
shared with us later that during the period of time that we were in
South Carolina, Newberry, South Carolina, and then later Richmond,
Virginia, that people actually rode by the house. And he was at the
front window, guarding the window, to ensure that no one would actually
bring danger or harm to his family even though they did not know that
his family wasn't there. We were not there.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What was that period of time like for you? Did you know about most of
these or did your parents keep them hidden from you?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I knew about the anger that existed in the community, and my parents
were very active, at that time, in the NAACP. And they ensured that all
of us, including myself, went to NAACP meetings where these issues and
challenges were discussed, and the rallies so that we could have a full
understanding of what was going on and what really to expect as
children.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

But did they really just decide that it wasn't worth—

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Right. My father himself decided that it really was not worth the
threats that he had received and the danger it may place his children in
to go in that situation. So, he opted—and ensured that we moved so that
we wouldn't have that challenge.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

So what did you think about when you moved, going from Northwest to West
Charlotte—? What was your attitude about going to West Charlotte at that
time?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think that I was more afraid going to Northwest and then to West
Charlotte being in that, in that, environment more so than I was at
Alexander Graham Bell. And, I'll tell you why. Because, West Charlotte
had a reputation of challenging its students and the Northwest—. They
really had a real strong reputation of doing that. And frankly, I was a
little bit fearful that I may not meet the mark. And, did have some
periods of adjustment doing that. I was sort of glad to be there because
not only did West Charlotte have a good reputation of challenging its
students academically, that feeder area, Northwest-West Charlotte had a
good reputation of challenging its students academically, but they also
had a good reputation for athletics and some arts and some other things.
So, I thought that it was like a step above. Even though I think in
retrospect, if I'd have gone the route of York Road and then Second Ward
I think I would have probably been challenged even more. Probably would
have even fared better academically because I would have been with
students that I had actually grown up with from elementary school all
the way through.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

That's the kind of experience your brother had?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes. That's the experience my brother had. When he was—. We moved to
West Charlotte, to the Northwest feeder group when I was in, the summer
of my sixth grade year, or prior to going in the seventh grade. And, my
brother—. That was in 1958. And he could have—. No, it was in 1957. He
could have chosen to go to West Charlotte but he decided he really
wanted to stay at Second Ward. That was the school—. He was a senior
that year so most times seniors like to stay at the school they're in
and he chose to do that. He was very active in student affairs and that
sort of thing so he chose to stay there.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Was part of the move to Biddleville related to your parents wanting you
to go to Northwest and West Charlotte?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No, I don't think it had anything to do with that at all. I think it had
to do with the availability of housing. And, I think that in that
quarter of town there were probably more houses available. Even though
the house that we moved into really was smaller in square footage than
what we previously lived in. But I think it had to do more with the
availability of housing than anything else.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did your parents purchase the house?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No. They did not purchase that house. But the next home that we moved
into they purchased.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

So, you went to Northwest and you had a period of adjustment and then
you went on to West Charlotte—.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Now by the time that I got to the ninth grade I really had gotten to be
real excited in being in that feeder group. I was really excited about
going to West Charlotte. I really, really was. So, I was really
anticipating that. I was really looking out—. They have a real good
experience in high school.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What sort of things was it that made you think this was going to be
good?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Well, I knew that there were going to be a lot of opportunities. As far
as seeing some of my neighbors' children involved in the arts, being
involved in the band, achieving in the foreign languages. Some summer
days the kids would sit out on the porch and they would either speak
Spanish or French. And I always felt, "Why am I not able to do this?"
And, especially my older sister, she took, I think, French three years
in high school. And she and our neighbors, they would just have good
strong conversations. And I wanted to be a part of
that, so I knew that I was going to be challenged or opportunities were
going to be placed in front of me that I really had not experienced
before. So, I was really anticipating that, and seeing other kids around
us really achieve highly and offered scholarships and the like, I
thought that that was going to get me a good—. That would challenge me
to do much better than probably what I'd done in junior high.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

That is exciting. At that point were you going to West Charlotte events
such as football games and basketball games?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Oh yes. Actually, I started going to West Charlotte High School, the
football events probably when I was in the seventh grade, just West
Charlotte events. Now, before then I'd been attending events in
elementary school, at Second Ward, because my brother played on the
football team. So I saw athletic events. But I started attending more
West Charlotte events probably when I got in the seventh grade because
they had a lot of plays. They had at least two plays per year at
Northwest Junior High School, because we had the auditorium when they
moved to the larger school. So I went to at least two plays a year.
Naturally, I went to a lot of sporting events, football specifically. My
sister was a part of the chorus at the time, so I would go up to West
Charlotte to see recitals on her behalf. I had a neighbor who was a
pretty good artist and I went up there to see some displays that he had
drawn and that sort of thing. So I had begun to get a feel of West
Charlotte before I got there, so that sort of heightened the
anticipation.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

You just saw all the neighbors and the people that went? Were you within
walking distance of the school?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No. I really wasn't. To give you a good proximity, we lived off Oak Lawn
Avenue, and West Charlotte is probably at least three miles away. I
think if you would go by way of Oak Lawn and then Beatties Ford Road.
But, the distance never—. We never even thought about the distance as
far as coming back from school. Practically every day, we walked back
home from school. It was just a conversational piece. You walked and you
really didn't understand the distance you were travelling. That didn't
hamper with us, or the challenge of the distance never really was a
problem at all.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What would you do on your way home from school? Would there be a whole
bunch of kids walking back—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Always a whole bunch of kids. Probably at least—. If we left school at
the closing bell, it was always at least five persons that walked
together, at least five. Most of the time there was more than that
because we walked in groups. You may skip ahead to the next group or
fall back to the next group, or whatever, whomever you were. Then you
always had the opportunity—. Or maybe there was a girl that you liked
and you wanted to get with someone. You knew her or you wanted to make
yourself available or vice versa. There may be a young lady that was
interested in you. It was a fun time that we shared walking from school.
But in the mornings we had a "special." We had a city transit bus that
would pick us up and we could ride to school for a dime. Basically, in
the morning, in the winter months, or when the weather was inclement, we
rode to school. But in the spring or in the fall when the weather was
very nice it was just another walk.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

That is neat. Your neighborhood, all the kids in your neighborhood also
went to West Charlotte.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

All the kids in our neighborhood went to West Charlotte, all of them. We
can consider ourselves being right in the middle of the West Charlotte
feeder group. The only students that you knew of that didn't go to West
Charlotte were students that probably were, like my brother, who had
just recently moved in the area. And were probably seniors and made the
decision they were going to stay at the school that they wanted to
finish at.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What did your brother think about you going to West Charlotte and being
an enemy of the Second Ward?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

He didn't think too well of persons that went to West Charlotte.
Naturally, he had a different like for his sisters or his siblings. But,
even to this day Second ward is closed and West Charlotte is open. And
he's had three children to graduate from West Charlotte and he still has
not really accepted the fact that. "My children went there so I should
really be a strong supporter." He had five children in school there. He
was in the PTSA and that sort of thing. But he has never said, "Okay.
I'm a Lion now." There's always been a rift, that I'm aware of, between
Second Ward and West Charlotte. That just sort of mirrored or echoed
itself in our family.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did you parents get very involved in school when you were—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Oh, yeah. My parents were involved in the school ever since I was in
elementary school. My mother and my father, both of them, rarely missed
a PTSA meeting. Even though they didn't have the opportunity to
volunteer much as far as going on field trips and that sort of thing.
But they were real, real involved in the PTSA and the fund raising and
that sort of thing. My mother, even though she worked after hours in the
fifth grade, she still was involved, baking cookies for special events—.
Both of them really showed us that parental
involvement in school is absolutely a necessity. And even to this day,
I've been real heavily involved in the schools that my children
attended. Schools, specifically, West Charlotte since I've graduated and
had children to graduate from there. And, I know, and I encourage
persons who have children either in public or private school, "You need
to make yourself available for your children, first of all, and then for
other children secondly." If you want to be limited in that way.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did most children's parents get involved in the school or was there just
a particular group that had the time?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

To be honest, I think that most parents did not get themselves involved
in school. I really don't. I really don't think so. I can remember us
going to PTSA meetings or student/teacher nights when we went through
schedules and that sort of thing and not seeing a whole lot of parents
there. On the other hand, I can remember seeing parents come up to
school on days that their children had maybe been in some kind of
mischief. I can't think of one time that my parents had to come to
school for me. I had a sister that sometimes got in mischief. But, in
general, parents around us did not participate in school that much. They
really did not.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Why do you think that was?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think they probably didn't know the importance of it, first thing.
And, secondly, I think most of them, not being educated themselves,
probably were either embarrassed or felt intimidated being around
persons who were educators. In that day, a school teacher was a person
who was held in very high esteem and you really didn't want to
"challenge" them, so to speak. And, I think in some regards, they felt
that, "Well, in school the teacher took care of
it." Many of them just didn't get involved for whatever reason.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

It sounds like what you're saying is that they wanted to make sure the
children behaved; that that was something that was important to them,
but then other things—. They would go if it was some kind of—.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Event or whatever or some kind of problem in the school that may have
required the parent to maybe get them back in class or talk with a
disciplinarian about some concerns that were afoot. But, in general, I
really can't remember parents going to schools in droves.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

When you were at the school, what kinds of things did you get involved
in?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

When I was—. The first thing that I really wanted to be involved in was
athletics, at that time that was like the doorway through for
popularity, for recognition. So, I really wanted to be an athlete. But,
I found that I really wasn't an athlete that could be competitive on the
level that other kids were on. I did play sports. I played football when
I was a junior and senior in high school. But I really was never a star
or a starter kind of person. So, I was involved in athletics to a
degree. I was involved in the photography club. I was involved in the
chorus, boys' glee club. They combined the squire. I was involved in the
Red Cross and the Civitan club.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Sounds like there was a lot to do at the school.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yeah. I think those are the things that I was involved in.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did most of the students have a lot of activities like that? Was it kind
of—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think, in general, kids had a smorgasbord of things that they could be
involved in. But, I think, they may have been involved in one or two
things. Our parents really encouraged us to be
involved in things. In addition to school we were very active in our
local church. So, those things sort of enveloped themselves together. It
was expected, for our family at least, that you get involved in some
things. But, I think, in general, kids probably maybe got involved in
maybe one or two things. If you saw a kid that was involved in more than
three things it was probably more the exception than the rule.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Were there connections at all between your church and school? Were there
cooperations—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Not between my church. I was attending and a member at the time of St.
Paul's Baptist Church which was in the Brooklyn community. And, they had
more of an alignment with Second Ward. So, consequently, there wasn't
that much alignment between my church and West Charlotte. But, West
Charlotte had some alignment with other churches in the neighborhood,
especially when I was in school, that I thought were very meaningful and
fostered the cause of both of them, religious and educational, too.

I think the connection was support from the stand point of having
children who are participating in various activities, whether it be in
drama or the chorus, singing or participating in the local churches. The
close kindred that I'm most aware of is probably
that with University Park. Whereas, West Charlotte used a portion of
their facility from time to time for assembly programs and for
extensional programs when we had conventions. When we were hosting
conventions or drama or any kind of event such as that University Park
let itself be made available so the school could utilize its facility.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did you have a lot of these conventions where kids came from outside of
West Charlotte?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think that we had more than the normal. I can't remember a year that I
was at West Charlotte when we did not host some kind of state
convention, basketball tournament, a choral competition, band
competition, cosmetology competition—. I can't think of a year that we
did not host something. So, somebody was always coming. I think it was
in part for two reasons. Number one, administrators of the school were
well known for organizing these kinds of events, carried them out very
well. And then the school itself had a good planned facility. It was
very spacious and that attracted a lot of people. A lot of buses could
come. I forgot about the track and field events that they had. I can't
think of a year from my tenth grade to my twelfth grade year that we
didn't host events that involved other students throughout the whole
state. And then some other social groups also used the facility for
conventions. During that time there were not a lot of facilities that
blacks could use especially in the public sector. So, what happened was
most of the time when a school would host that school would also be
responsible for putting up students. A lot of the students at West
Charlotte had pretty decent houses and they could invite students to
stay the night with them and that sort of thing. That was also a part of
why, I think, they hosted a lot of statewide conventions.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

It must have been nice to meet kids from all over the state.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It was. Many of the kids that we met probably were on the same kind of
track that we were on. Most of them were involved in some activities.
And eventually, later, some of the kids, I know specifically I met at
least one or two persons when I went away to college who had come to
West Charlotte for some kind of event. We were parallel in some regards.
It was always nice meeting other people from other locales in the state
and seeing how they were doing. And either bragging or challenging one
another about what the best school is or was. And saying what our school
had to offer versus others. And who had been successful from our school
and who had been successful from yours. That was a good forum for a good
dialogue.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

[unclear]

You talked about doing the bragging with sports but it can also
be said about other things as well.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think those other areas don't get the attention that others, the
sports, would get just because sports just draw a larger crowd. The arts
and academics don't seem—. They're not as glamorous. But, those
opportunities for co-mingling students just—. It was very, very helpful.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

At the point when you were going to Northwest and West Charlotte was
then—. That was your earlier experience with intended integration. After
that, was that not something you and your parents thought about at all
for the rest of your school career?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No. It was something that we didn't think about anymore. In fact, we
sort of—. After the initial students went to West Charlotte, the
integration thing sort of slid itself back. I think it sort of slid
itself back. There were still issues going. Along where there were other
students who went to Myers Park and some of the other schools around.
But, I don't think it was the big issue as it
was in 1957, '58 when the Supreme Court ruled that integration would be
the order of the day. So, it sort of slid itself back and then there
began to be a lot of other challenges that caused it to be back on the
back burner. For me, that really was my, an option that my family or
myself was considering from that standpoint from that point on.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did the students talk among themselves at all about integration or
anything like that? Or was that simply not an issue—.?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes, we did talk about it. Our dialogue was basically centered around
the fact that we were just as good as any other students at
Charlotte-Mecklenberg if we were given the opportunity to compete. There
was always an itching that we wanted the opportunity to meet our
counterparts, whether it be in academics or sports, or whatever, head to
head, to sort of see who was best. I guess that was the only way that we
thought we could get some parity. You had to have a competitive, an
event that would generate an outcome as to who is the best now. So,
there was a lot of talk about, "Boy, I sure would like to see us sing at
a competition that involved them. I sure would like to see them debate
with us. I sure would like to see them compete with us athletically."
That was basically the dialogue we picked up. We just wanted the
opportunity to show that we were as good as we knew we were.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did that opportunity ever come around at all, or the possibility of
that, when you were in school?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No, not during the time that I was in school. No, it didn't. I think the
first time that I can remember of a sanctioned athletic event was after
I was in college. I think my sister was in high school at the time and
West Charlotte played Myers Park. That was one of
the first sanctioned competitive events that we had. And that event, I
think it took place at Myers Park.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Was that a basketball game?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It was a basketball game.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I spoke to Charles McCullough for that end of the project and I believe
he mentioned it was quite a sensation.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Right. It was. I think everybody was anticipating seeing this first time
that people would go, the athletes would go head to head. But, in other
venues, no we really didn't. We really didn't have the opportunity to
compete in other avenues. So, consequently, we never really got to know
really how well we were. Or how good we really thought we were. We never
really got that opportunity. That's just the sign of what the time was
all about during that time. I think it was on both halves. Some people
not wanting it to happen and whatever.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What did you think when

[unclear]

started happening in Charlotte? And then sort of later on being
in the '60s—. You were back living here?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I was back living here. I was really glad to see it happen. I was really
hurt to see all of the daily riots that were happening in the school.
That was really hurtful from two standpoints because I thought that the
opportunity was there for us to really embrace one another. But, I was
so hurt that people were not willing to step up to the plate even though
the city officials, board of education said, "This is a Supreme Court
order of the day." But that activity sort of showed that there was a
silent rejection of what was going on. And that was being played out in
the minds and eyes of the children who were in school at that day.
Regardless as to what the Supreme Court says, "We don't want to be here and we're going to show that things are not
going to work." That was really hurtful to me.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Were you connected with West Charlotte at that time? Were you going to
the games and—?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes. I was still going to the games and during that period of time the
participation dropped off. I think that there was a general fear in the
community that, "We don't want to be in an environment that's going to
put the races together in masses and may cause something", so attendance
was not really well. Then, the competition level wasn't that great
because there was a lot of shuffling in schools. You went through a
period—. Are you familiar with the debate that's going on about
recruiting now in high schools? Well, that happened back then, big time.
Some of the star athletes were born to the integrated schools—. What
that causes is the athletic level in a lot of the black schools to be
lower. So, I guess it's in the media now, but it's something that's been
occurring for a long, long time. It also is a mirror of what our society
calls for on the college level, in the pros. If you've got the
wherewithall on a college level to recruit the best player you're going
to get it. If you've got the wherewithall on the professional level to
get the best player, you're going to get it. I think it just, sort of,
mirrored itself all the way through.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I've heard other people say that surprisingly it was the best athletes
who got accepted to go to the white schools in the early—. That that
was—.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

That's true. That's exactly right. It was the black, the better black
athletes who went to those schools. I think that that was not only just
in Charlotte. I think it went right over the nation. I'm really
surprised about that.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Then did the situation change? There was a period of real turmoil.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

And then, I think, in the later '70s things began to start mellowing
out. There was an initiative throughout the whole community that, "We
want to make this situation work." In talking with children of affluent
parents, at the time, their parents really made a sacrifice. They said,
"Look. If I'm going be a leader in Charlotte/Mecklenburg, I'm going to
lead not only in the white community but I'm going to lead on social
issues. And they derived in a way mechanisms by which their children
would be bussed just like any other kid and they were going to be going
to those schools. And, I think that's when it began to turn the corner.
Because it showed whether you were at the top or the bottom, everybody
was going to be affected by integration. I think the mood began to
change even though there was some other resistance in other quarters of
the community. I think, at that point, we began to turn the corner.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

And, it seemed like—. I mean, West Charlotte became a symbol of that.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It did. It really did. I think it had—. There are two ingredients.
Number one, West Charlotte was known to have a superb staff.
Unfortunately, just as we began to integrate many of those persons in
that superb staff were also shifted to other schools which caused for a
revamping of the staff at West Charlotte. I missed my thought.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

You were talking about revamping the staff of the schools.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Right. So, we went through this period where a lot of the veteran staff
was gone and now you're dealing with a nucleus that you're trying to
blend together along with parents who really, really want it to work.
West Charlotte was sort of made to be the model from the administrative
standpoint to say, "Oh, yes, it can work." The resources began to be
placed at West Charlotte to make it work. To make it attractive to students from whatever economic rim they came from
to say that, "I can send my child to this school and get a quality
education just as well as I would sending them to Myers Park or some
other high school." As a result of that then other resources came in.
Not only do we want our children to compete academically, we want to
bring back the athletic competition level that was in days of old. So
booster clubs and the band and all these other activities began to get a
new shot of energy. Specifically, new uniforms, new instruments and
whatever to say, "What you were in the past we're going to recreate
that." The pride in the school started coming back at that point.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did you take any part in these activities during this time? Were you
part of it?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Well, no, I wasn't, because that was in the early '70s. I was newly
married. I didn't really have any children. Well, I didn't have any
children in West Charlotte or my youngest child at that time was
probably maybe two, well two years old. So, I really wasn't dealing on a
high school level much at that point. And, I was young and married. I
was less than twenty-nine. There's not many twenty-nine year olds that
you know of who are going to go back to a high school and say they're
going to be involved or really be accepted to be a person who can really
contribute. So, I didn't, not until my kids got to be old.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

So, you sort of observed this from a distance?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I sort of observed this from a distance and had a keen interest because
that was the school that I had attended.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What did you feel about it at the time when all of these things were
going on? What were your emotions or your thoughts related to West
Charlotte and to—?

[END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A]

[TAPE 1, SIDE B]

[START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

As we began to turn the corner in the progress business—. I really did
begin to get a wellspring of pride at seeing what was going on. Because
I knew that the nucleus was there to turn it back to where it was.
Viewed from the black community seeing it inching itself back to a point
that now is being accepted in the community in general. That was really
a good feeling.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Were you

[unclear]

the alumni association formed in the early '80s. Were you part
of that?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I wasn't in the formation of the alumni association, but I watched it at
a distance. I tell you how I really got involved with the alumni
association. Reflecting just a little bit. My parents had encouraged us
to be involved in our school. My wife and I—. All in middle school my
wife was really heavily involved. In junior high she and I both were
involved in the parent teacher association, and other activities,
mentoring and that sort of thing. And, when I went to West Charlotte—.
West Charlotte has a reputation of trying to seek people who have been
active. And when my daughter was in the ninth grade, the summer before
she went to West Charlotte—. I can't recall who it was, but somebody
called me and said, "You've got a reputation of being involved in school
and we want to know whether or not you'd be interested in working with
the PTSA at West Charlotte?" And, I said, "Well, that sounds pretty
good." And, I started working with the PTSA when my daughter was in the
tenth grade. When she was in the eleventh grade I was nominated to be
vice-president of the PTSA. I had a project, we had a project that we
wanted to raise that year $15,000 for the PTSA and I took that on. And,
I said, "Where can I get this money from?" I just sort of threw out all
kind of opportunities and one of them was the
alumni association. I went to the alumni association and asked them to
get involved with our telethon. Not only did they get involved with our
telethon by calling parents, calling other alumni to get them to
contribute money to the school, but they contributed a sizeable amount
of money to the school, or to the PTSA. And, I said, "Wow. These people
are really committed." So, I started attending the meetings and I got
involved. I saw how committed people were who didn't even have children
or grandchildren at the school, but who were committed in ensuring that
West Charlotte would have as many opportunities available for its
students as it possibly could. And, if the parents couldn't provide
those opportunities the PTSA would say, "We'll see what we can provide."
And, I thought that was just admirable. I said, "Wow. I want to be
involved with these folks." And I got involved with the alumni
association that way. And stayed involved until today. I mean, I'm still
involved. But, because of the alumni association I still have an
involvement with the school. In fact, I got a message yesterday from a
person who wants us to look at another issue that's appearing. That's
how I trekked and got reconnected. I like the goals and objectives of
the alumni association because I feel that they're very noble and I hope
to continue to be involved for some time to come. I think that the cause
there—. It means a whole lot. I was past president of the association
and we had some concerns about four years ago. No, it's been longer than
that. (My kids are older now.) It was during the time that my middle
child was at West Charlotte. We had some concerns about the chemistry
building. The PTSA and the alumni association lobbied the board of
education and we got a new building up there. They found money that had
been appropriated in previous bond issues. And, I said, "Wow, all you've
got to do is get involved and there may be some avenues that can be opened up." I thought that was real neat. My
daughter had graduated from West Charlotte then and my son—. Well, she
was really a science kind of person and I can remember her saying, "Dad.
We just don't have what we need." I remember her chemistry teacher
teaching chemistry off a rolling cart. And, I said, "If we don't have a
need for a chemistry laboratory I don't know what we got a need for."
So, we got involved. And, she never could take higher levels of
chemistry because they didn't have the facilities to teach it.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

It seems that, to keep the school ongoing, it really does require this
kind of ongoing—.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It does. It really does. That "undergirdiness" of the community and
interested persons in general, the parent/teacher association, the
teacher lobbying, the students identifying concerns and addressing them.
But, in general, everyone working for the good of the whole is the ideal
situation that you can have to push a school to excellence and to
maintain it there also. Obviously, you're going to have some concerns
along the way. But I think, in general, in general, if you have all of
those elements working, if it falls through the net in one form it will
be caught in another and eventually those concerns will be addressed.
And the students will be the better off because of all of the
involvement.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I don't want to take up too much time but I've got a couple more
questions. You say your children went to West Charlotte? How is the
school different to them, their experience, than from your experience
back when you were attending?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think their experience as far as a pride in the school was the same as
mine. They really, really enjoyed it from that standpoint and still brag
about the school even today. In contrast, the
education opportunities were quite different, those that were available
to me and those that were available to my kids. Example: In high school,
I took algebra I, algebra II. And the highest math that was offered, and
that was only to a very select group, was trig. Now, the math levels are
much higher than that. All of my children took trig. Two of them took
calculus I and II. So, that's the difference. When you talk about the
foreign languages. You may be able to get to French III. And French III,
I think, does not include—. Or a foreign language III—. Because, all
three of my kids, my son and my oldest daughter, took Spanish. My
youngest daughters took Latin. Anyway, I think that the foreign language
IV, when you move into that level, it's all—. The conversation in that
class is all in that foreign language. There is no other language that's
available. If you use English while you're in that class, you are
subject to a failing grade unless it's an excusable dialogue. Whereas,
when I was—. You, basically, the only thing you got into maybe was
French III or a foreign language III. And that maybe included writing.
That was a big difference. That's a big—. I think the levels of course
offerings and the preparation that one may receive to go on in higher
education are much greater now than when I was in school. Even though,
we felt that we were just as prepared as our counterparts who were in
white schools. But, in retrospect now, I understand that we probably
were not as prepared. Because those higher levels were offered to them
then and they weren't available to us. I think the educational
opportunities are much better now at the school than it was when I was
coming up. I think that the pride in the school is still the same.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

What about in terms of the size of the school? Because, you talked about
when you knew all of your neighbors who went and it was a much smaller
school at that point. And then it got bigger and I
took in, I guess, kids from lots of parts of the city. Did that make
your case experience different?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

First, when I went to West Charlotte, I thought it was the hugest place
in the world, because at that time it had about—. It had at least eight
buildings. I said, "Golly, eight buildings?" And, I'm coming from
Northwest and Northwest had three buildings, the main building and then
an annex and then the gym. But, eight buildings, it was like going to a
college campus. And then, I began to hear the school ground being
referred to as a campus. So, that was new to me. I think it enhanced my
kids because what I considered big, the school was much bigger when my
kids were through. And then when they went away to college I think they
were really ready for the campus atmosphere. Then you had many buildings
and the buildings were divided in disciplines such as the way they are
on college campuses. You could begin to see the parallel. I think that
kind of experience enhanced then and prepared them more physically for
what to expect on a college campus.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

In terms of. At the same time, of course, the school was also integrated
when they went.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yes.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

And, they had contact with black students in a way. And, I guess, some
students from some other ethnic groups and backgrounds in parts of the
city and what not. Was that difficult for them?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I don't think so for my kids. For that era that children went through
that trek. Because, I think my daughter, my oldest child, was in the
second class that began a fully integrated school. So, she didn't
really—. It wasn't really a difference to her. It's what she saw at elementary school and what she saw when she went to
kindergarten. That's what she saw in kindergarten and what she saw when
she was a twelfth grade student. Nothing really had changed. Whereas, in
contrast, it would have been a real change for me because I had had a
segregated experience. And for me to go to now an integrated experience
where I may have been purely in the minority it would probably have been
a tremendous challenge for me. But, as far as they were concerned it
wasn't any difference. Plus the fact that all of them had multi-racial
friends. And then they were involved in other activities where they
co-mingled all the time. It really wasn't a big difference to them.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Were they involved in activities that were multiracial outside of the
school as well? Would they go to other parts of the city or was it
mostly at the school?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think mostly for my kids it was mostly at the school. Even though,
both of my kids were involved in Boy Scouting, Boy Scouting and Girl
Scouting. They were also involved in children's theatre. They were
involved in classes at Discovery Place and the Nature Museum which were
culturally mixed. But, I think, in general, their involvement
interracially was basically at school.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

You had said you thought many people in Charlotte saw having integrated
schools as being very important in bringing people together. Do you
think that that's fulfilled that promise or the hopes or

[Telephone rings. Recorder is turned off and then back on.]

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Your question again?

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Oh, I was saying—. Asking the question, if you think integrated schools
in Charlotte fulfilled the hopes that people had and the expectations?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think there was a false sense of hope and achievement that integration
could bring. I think that it served as a good vehicle and the best
vehicle for bringing the races together. So, I think it really served
that purpose. But, a segregated mentality is so engrained in our
society, the American society and the world in general, that I don't
think that we're ever going to be fully integrated and maybe we
shouldn't. I think the respect of another's beliefs, another's culture
background and the acceptance of people, in general, may be more
important than integration. Obviously, we are going to have a
multi-cultural society somewhere in the future. But, if you look at
history there are cultures of people that have never integrated
themselves. Cultures of people who share the same skin color who never
integrated. Persons who share the same kind of religious beliefs who
have never been integrated. So, I think "full" integration, I don't
think that's ever going to occur. I think that the most important thing
is that we respect another's culture, belief, and them, in general, as
an individual, respecting the difference from us is way more important.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Is this something that you've always thought or is this a thought that
you've come to over the years?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It's a thought that I've come to. I know that I was a part of this
belief that if we could all integrate that there was just going to be a
natural exchange of knowledge and resources and that sort of thing. But,
our society is very witty. And, as new demands come upon us for changing
we find new ways to entrench ourselves in the old. So, my hopes—. I
evolved to that point. I know that I was caught up in thinking, "All we
got to do is integrate and everything will be equal." It's not so. And,
I don't think it will be so.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Is there any sort of one big thing that happened that you observed that
helped you change or has it been just a gradual sort of observing of
many things?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think the thing that heightened me to it—. My oldest child was a part
of the academically gifted program in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school,
and I saw her being alienated out of some opportunities. Even though
there are some rules that say that there's going to be equal access to
all. Individuals have a way that they can eliminate you if they want to.
And it can't be blamed upon "racialness" or whatever. And, I know that
she competed academically just as well as others, but I know that there
were some opportunities that weren't made available to her. I'm not
bitter about that, but that's; those kinds of events are what made me
understand that we were not going to ever have full integration, full
diversity. We're not going to ever have that fullness because there are
going to be some people who are going to cleave to the past. And they
are going to do everything in their power and they're going to use as
much wit as they can to keep it from occurring. And what that's going to
do is delay it. And then you're always going to have someone else who is
going to pick up the banner and is going to run with it. So, that's what
sort of changed my mind.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Did you have travel opportunities, scholarship opportunities or classes?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Yeah. I think that, in general, my son was not strong in academics, but
my daughters, oldest to youngest, were. And there were a lot of
opportunities that they were involved with, but those activities they
never were dismissed from anything like that. What I saw was attitudes
in individuals. That's what I saw and that's where I saw the
institutionalism being heavily entrenched. And that's what made me know,
"There's going to be some people that's going to hold on." And, then
there's going to be some people on both races that
are going to hold on. My statement is not made one-sidedly. I began to
understand that there are going to be people who just don't want to
change. They just want it the way it used to be and they hold onto it.
And, then another thing, too. I didn't begin to really understand the
desires of individuals to have their children go to private, church
related schools, or schools that dealt, basically, with a given culture,
and I began to understand that. In some regards I think that the reason
for it is in error. But, by the same token within our society, I think
we have a right to educate our children in the way that we feel is best.
Now saying that, when my children went away to college, all three of
them have gone to all black colleges. And why did I make that choice?
All three of them could have gone to some of the greater universities if
they wanted to. But I made that choice because of this. I felt that in
the environment and in the culture in which you are in you increase and
heighten your learning opportunity when you don't have to deal with
other peripheral items such as racism. That's what I began to understand
some parents chose to send their kids to private schools or Jewish
schools or religious schools or whatever. Some of it has a racism basis,
but our society demands that we have a right to educate our children the
way we see fit if we can afford it. I chose for them to go to—. Well, I
didn't chose. All of them had the opportunity and visited colleges. But,
I know that the basis of a lot of their decisions was based upon what
their parents wanted them to do. I accept the responsibility for that.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

That must have been hard for that to happen to your children at your
school, at West Charlotte.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

Hard for me to accept that?

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Yes, well, maybe not.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

No, it wasn't. Because, I knew—. When you've been a victim of racism.
When you have been discriminated against subtlely and you don't have any
recourse, you begin to expect this as a standard. And, if you're a wise
parent, you prepare your children to deal with that. Not taking away
from them their ambition, but helping them to understand that there are
some persons who are dealing with things that may negatively affect you.
And, you're going to have to develop within yourself the where with all
to overshadow their desires to pull you back. So, that was a part of my
indoctrination in them. So, it didn't surprise me.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

How did you reconcile these things happening with your support for West
Charlotte?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

You learn to take the bitter with the sweet. You know that in a
situation there's going to be some winners and there's going to be some
losers. But you look at the situation, "Is it for the greater good? Is
the support that we're trying to get for the greater good?" That's the
summation of what I found. Even though, at some point, I may have
realized that my child was not treated fairly in this particular
situation, I have to draw back from it and say, "What's the greater
good? Me taking it personal and saying, 'Because my child didn't get
xyz, I'm not going to do xyz?' Or am I going to be an example to them
and say, "In spite of you not being given this opportunity we still are
going to support. And, I guarantee you, in the end, we'll all be better
off." So, that's the attitude I had to take and that's the attitude I
still have today.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I wish more people would have that attitude. That's unique. What's your
hope for West Charlotte in the future?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I really want to see the balance of the student population more
reflective of the general society. I think one of the—. What I'm saying
is that I think West Charlotte is too black now and that's going to hurt
in the long run. I would like to see the lines for populating that
school rejoined so that it can be more inclusive and can be more
multi-cultured. I don't want West Charlotte to be a black school. I know
that if it's going to survive it can't be a black school. And, I mean
from the standpoint that the student body is a majority black and
increasing. If you don't have buy-in from all over the community, in
general, people sooner or later are going to say, "You know." And, this
is based on historical deep-seated hidden beliefs that it was all black
and it's not going to be too good. And I think that we have to play that
out. That's not to say that something all black isn't good. But when you
deal with those kinds of attitudes and those kinds of beliefs my hope is
really that we dismiss that. We dismiss the racial—. That we make it
more culturally diverse. So, I really would like to see the numbers
change. And, I think that will enhance. That's what my initial hope,
numerically, is. But, from an institutional standpoint, ten to fifty
years out I want kids to continue to be standing in line to go to West
Charlotte because they know it's the best. Not best because it's got the
best athletics. It's the best offering. And, that's the feeling that I
had. I'm sorry. I had that feeling when my kids were in high school. I
just felt that we had the best. When you consider the fact that out of a
graduating class you may have students who may gather in excess of
$11,000,000 worth of scholarships in a year and nobody in the school
system is competing with that. When you consider that fact that you see
a line of athletes who have gone through West Charlotte and are now in
the professional ranks. When you consider the fact that you had
musicians who are now making the occupation who have come through West Charlotte. My hope is that ten to fifteen years
out from there that people will still have—. I knew it was the best then
and I know it is the best now. Why? Because they've got the track record
and because, more than anything else, I feel a part. I really feel a
part of that situation. It's a medal on one's chest when you look in
Sunday's paper and you see how many graduating classes are having
reunions. What is that saying? Kids and students that went there want to
have the opportunity to get together again. They had a positive
experience. You watch the paper if you get a chance. When they list the
reunions see how many are classes who graduated from West Charlotte
compared to other schools. Have you had the opportunity to look at that?
Take a look at that. I don't know what the numbers are. I'm close to it
because I'm part of the alumni association and I hear, "The class of
this is having a reunion. The class of this—." I hear it all the time.
It may be that we have a structure by which we get that information.
But, I'm also seeing it played out in the daily news and announcements
going out. And, when you have people who have been out of school ten,
fifteen, twenty, and in some regards, fifty or fifty-five years, and
they say, "Hey, I still want to get together with folks who went to high
school with me." That's saying we really enjoyed our experiences there.
And I want that same kind of activity to carry on in the future. And you
won't look at the class and say, "Was John Jones a black or was he
white?" You'll forget what he was because you had such a good time with
your schoolmates that race really wasn't an issue. That's sort of my
hope. That may sound like a utopian dream but that's something that I
hope personally.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

It's important to have those dreams. Let me ask you just one more
question. And, this has just been wonderful. I just appreciate it so
much. Another thing that seems to me to be
important about West Charlotte is that, here Charlotte is a city where
history often doesn't seem to matter; things get torn down. And, I
think, West Charlotte, I believe, is the oldest standing high school
that we've got in Charlotte or it's close to being. It's still in the
same neighborhood where it was. A lot of schools aren't like that. What
do you think the significance of having an institution that's been
there?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

It's important, very important to parallel in our mindset. I also
understand now why some people support and further the cause of
neighborhood schools. It is important to have an institution, a
landmark, in your community that you can come back and say, "That's
where I went to school." That's really important. In some regards, that
may be one of the few things that can keep memory for persons who've
attended the school. I think the stability is really important. And I
think it's really crucial in preserving the history. You may have gone
by a historical marker that may have had a significance at a given day,
but it's hard to reach it in the past at a bronze plaque. It's
difficult. But when you've got something physical that you can see your
memory begins to go back in its recesses and pull things out.

Let me share with you—. Two weeks ago up at the Latta Plantation they had
a presentation on African Americans at Latta Plantation. They had some
persons who came down from Williamsburg, Virginia, that actually did a
demonstration. It wasn't so much about Latta Plantation but it was
showing how slave life was depicted. I went with my daughter who will be
a junior in college. She and I went up there to see it because I'm a
history buff. I like to see stuff like that. We went into the house when
we got there and they were cooking in the adjacent kitchen. Have you
ever been to Latta Plantation?

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I've seen it. I can't remember if I've been in the house or not, but
I've been to the park.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

They have a—. I think that is one of the oldest structures in
Mecklenberg county and its right adjacent—. They cooked in a separate
house behind the place. And when I got there I could smell the hickory
wood. I didn't know what they were cooking, but just the aroma of
smelling the wood burning. And then I went in and I saw what they were
cooking. I toured the plantation. They had some displays. They really
began to kick into my mind, "How was it really like in slavery on the
Latta Plantation in that day?" I use that analogy and that example to
show how important it is to have a structure. If you have a structure
you have something that you can reach back to. But if you only have a
plaque it's hard to imagine what it was like. It's hard to be challenged
to go back and get the history. I think the permanency in a community is
real, real important. And, I think that with West Charlotte and
Northwest being in their same cities over these years has contributed
tremendously to the preservation of the history of the schools.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

Well, this has just been wonderful. I appreciate you so much taking the
time. Is there anything else you'd like to say about West Charlotte, or
about schooling in Charlotte or anything that we haven't covered that
you think is important?

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think the leadership of a school is most important. And, I think that
the school board has recognized that. One of the things that has made
West Charlotte strive for greatness was its first principal, Clinton L.
Blake. And, I think, along the line we've had principals who've had a
desire to achieve greatness in their administration of the school and
not just accept mediocrity. And I think the school board, in itself,
when they recognized that, and I think they recognized that at West
Charlotte, they have been very selective about who
they put there. Along with stability, as far as the centers of the
building, stability in the leadership is also crucial. You changing
principals frequently, persons using the school as a career track,
that's no good. Leadership—. They have to have a desire greater than,
"I'm here for a short while and I'm out of here." They've got to have a
bigger desire. So, I think, the preservation of the school is also
rooted; that the preservation and the continued success of the school is
also rooted in the school board's and its administration's ability to
put the right person at the helm of West Charlotte and other schools to
create a kind of superb environment where everyone is motivated and not
threatened and brow beaten to do an excellent job.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

People seem to be pleased with this new principal.

WILLIAM HAMLIN:

I think so. At this point—. Last year we went through some turmoil with
the principal. And, I think Ken Simmons is an excellent principal. I
just think there were some political things that occurred that lessened
his stock and made him not be the best person to be at the helm at that
particular time. But, I think that he's an excellent administrator. And,
I think the school board, through Dr. Smith, recognized that they had to
have a person of equal and superior quality of Ken Simmons like other
principals. And, I think Mr. [Jerry] Cline is doing an excellent job at
this point of pushing the goals and objective out there at the school
and getting buyin from his staff, collaborating with the community,
ensuring that the students are accountable but also involved. I think
he's doing a good job.

PAMELA GRUNDY:

I'm hoping to talk with you some more. I would like to, if possible,
involve some of the students at the school in this project to do some
history gathering and that sort of thing. I've contacted him briefly.
I've been waiting until school got done which I—